It took the tragic death of Lorna McMurrey, from West Springfield, for state and federal health officials to confirm what many workers already suspected: Cannabis production work can cause asthma, and employers can do more to prevent it.
Recent reports from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention make concrete recommendations for how companies can reduce the risk of cannabis-related asthma among employees. But recommendations are not enough. State regulators should enshrine into law additional workplace safety requirements to ensure workers are properly protected. As the cannabis industry matures and more is learned about the manufacturing process and its potential dangers, it is incumbent that workplace health and safety rules keep up. No worker should die or suffer from respiratory illness because of a preventable occupational hazard.
According to the CDC report, McMurrey, who died in January 2022, is the first US cannabis worker whose death was attributed to occupational asthma. She first got sick in July 2021, two months after starting work in Trulieve’s Holyoke cannabis processing plant. She was taken to the emergency room in November 2021 after experiencing shortness of breath while working in an area where cannabis was ground and made into cigarettes. In January, she again experienced shortness of breath, along with sneezing and coughing at work, then suffered cardiac arrest before emergency medical services arrived. She was hospitalized and died three days later.
The CDC investigation found McMurrey wore her own N95 mask. The dust from a grinder was vacuumed, but the vacuum had no HEPA filter, allowing dust to escape. Four of 10 of McMurrey’s coworkers in the flower production department also experienced symptoms of asthma, they told investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
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